SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2006

COMING SUNDAY

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES ANIMATED UPDATE

Michael Cornacchia, the voice of Bouncing Boy in Kids' WB!'s upcoming Legion of Super Heroes animated series, told The Continuum that there's more to his character than just goofy powers.

"They do a really good switch towards the middle part of the series, where I actually get more responsibility," Cornacchia told The Continuum. "I won't get into details on that, but that was awesome. In a way, it shows that just because I bounce and I may not have the best powers in the world, I have other abilities that get the job done."

Look for a full feature story on Cornacchia soon here in The Continuum.

In other Legion news, Kids' WB! has begun a fuller promotion in anticipation of the series' Sept. 23 launch.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger images from the spot, which ran five times on Saturday morning.

SPIDER-MAN 3 UPDATE

Topher Grace, who is playing Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3, said he endured a lengthy process to become Venom.

"It took me about 45 minutes to put on the suit and it would take me 4 1/2 hours to put on the makeup," said Grace, who also bulked up and dyed his hair blonde for the part.

Grace, who was an avid Spider-Man reader during the Todd McFarlane days, said he enjoyed playing Venom, who was introduced at the recent Comic-Con International in San Diego.

"Unlike most bad guys, he truly loves being evil," Grace said. "So, he really comes to grips with that attitude and enjoys it. So it's fun to play someone who finds their way to that place, it's fun to play that as an actor."

Director Sam Raimi was reticent to use Venom in the Spider-Man film, but, after being convinced by Marvel's Avi Arad to use the character, said he managed to work him into the realistic tone established in the first two Spider-Man films.

Raimi credited Grace's performance for bringing a humanity to the character that he hadn't seen in the comic books. Footage shown at Comic-Con revealed that Brock is so envious of Peter Parker he actually prays for Peter's death.

"It's kind of a case study if someone had the same job, had the same taste in women and got the same power, but had a really bad upbringing,² Grace said. "It's like I used to say on the set with Sam, it's like, 'With great power, comes great fun.'"

FAMILY GUY SEASON PREMIERE

The episode is scheduled to air on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).

Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

And for a preview of Devil's Due Publishing's Family Guy Vol. 2 comic book, CLICK HERE.

SMALLVILLE UPDATE

The Continuum has obtained the image of Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang that will be used as disc art for the upcoming Smallville: The Complete Fifth Season on DVD.

The five-disc set is scheduled for a Sept. 12 release.

In other Smallville news:

* Tentative titles for the first three episodes of Season 6 are "Zod," "Sneeze" and "Whither."

* The Thursday, August 24 episode on The WB will be a repeat of "Fragile."

* Look for more on Smallville this week here in The Continuum.

CHUCK DIXON WRITES FOR TIGHTLIP

TightLip Entertainment has announced that Chuck Dixon has written three stories for next month's Wheezy's Tales of The Spooky.

TightLip describes Tales of The Spooky as "a comic property about a real-life haunted house in New York. Entering the house through the cellar, a steering wheel looks out of place
on display but this one holds a story..."

Dixon is teamed with Enrique Villagran for "Back Seat Terror," a story about greed; with Silvestre on "The Dolls," a story about the collection of dolls housed at The Spooky; and with Quique Alcatena on "The Creeps."

Click on the thumbnails above for a sample page from each story.

BRIEFLY

* To the right is a promotional image from Fox of Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut for the Oct. 3 release of X-Men: The Last Stand on DVD.

Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

* Marvel Comics has released the cover and six preview pages of Mike Choi's art from the first issue of its upcoming X-23 mini-series.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger images.

COMICS CONTINUUM BACK ISSUES

In case you missed The Continuum's recent coverage, here are some links. Click on the date to get the day's full report.